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In the neighborhood: Registered sex offenders in Ouachita Parish

Julie Landry
6:58 p.m. CDT August 6, 2014

Sex offender Sterling Hamby’s last registered address is this home within 1,000 feet of West Monroe High School. The property stands open to the elements and appears vacated.
(Photo: DACIA IDOM/THE NEWS-STAR)

Convicted sex offenders return to society like most other felons released from prison. They work, they attend school and they buy groceries. But they also live under tighter scrutiny and must routinely submit themselves into a nationwide registry.

In Ouachita Parish, the registry currently includes 320 convicted sex offenders. Many crowd the same neighborhoods, in part because the laws place specific restrictions on their residencies.

But sometimes they fall through the justice system cracks altogether.

Location, location, location

In Ouachita Parish, convicted sex offenders appear to live in clusters, particularly in Bawcomville and southern Monroe.

Between New Natchitoches Road and Smith Street in West Monroe, 22 offenders are registered in an approximately 335-acre area less than a mile south of the Duck Commander warehouse.

Nine offenders are registered in the 1500 block of Bailey Street alone.

In southern Monroe, the registry lists 16 offenders in an approximately 220-acre area between Mississippi Street and Parkview Drive and 18 offenders in a 330-acre area between South Grand Street and Jackson Street.

Yet only two offenders are registered in the approximately 4,500-acre area in northern Monroe bordered by Louisville Avenue, U.S. 165, the Ouachita River and Bayou DeSiard.

Living restrictions

When asked why offenders seem to collect in the less affluent areas of the parish, Trooper Albert Paxton of the Louisiana State Police noted, "They've got to be careful about where they live as far as what they're close to." He said the living restrictions imposed on registered sex offenders tend to "push them into the same areas."

Robert Hanser, coordinator of the criminal justice program at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, said, "Many registered offenders live in less affluent neighborhoods due to zoning restrictions and due to the stringent community supervision requirements that are placed upon them."

Under Louisiana Revised Statute 14.91.2 outlining the unlawful presence of a sex offender, registrants convicted of crimes against victims younger than 13 years of age cannot reside or even approach within 1,000 feet of any public or private school, child care facility, public park or recreational facility.

In addition to these restrictions, offenders convicted of aggravated crimes — those sex offenses considered more severe by the Legislature — against victims younger than 13 years of age cannot reside or approach within 1,000 feet of any group home or residential home and cannot reside within 1,000 feet of any playground, public or private youth center, public swimming pool or free-standing video arcade.

No registered sex offender can live within three miles or approach within 300 feet of his or her victim.

Registrants convicted of unlawful presence of a sex offender can face up to a year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.

"We have (Deputy Ashley Flowers) assigned full-time to keep up with the sex offenders, how often they're supposed to report in, and so forth," said Deputy Glenn Springfield, public information officer for the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office. "We follow that guideline to the T."

Springfield said some patrol deputies are assigned to watch certain offenders and "check in" on them "during the course of their normal duty."

Offenders are grouped into tiers based upon the seriousness of the crimes committed.

Tier I offenders remain on the registry for 15 years and must update their registrations annually. Tier II offenders remain on the registry for 25 years and must update their registrations every six months. Tier III offenders remain on the registry for life. They must update their registrations every three months.

"We take it very seriously and keep up with it," Springfield said.

Since 2010, the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office alone charged 65 suspects with crimes that would carry the penalty of registration if convicted. Of the 65 arrests, 23 were charged with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, colloquially known as "statutory rape."

'Through the cracks'

The complexity of the problem finds focus around West Monroe High School, where five offenders are registered within 1,000 feet of the campus.

Though three have been convicted of charges suggesting their victims were 13 years of age or older, and therefore may live within 1,000 feet of any school, two are listed in the registry as noncompliant — meaning they have not updated their registries as required and are most likely considered fugitives.

The home registered to convicted offender Sterling Hamby appears vacant and abandoned, with broken windows and no signs of inhabitants. Flowers said some registered sex offenders do live in substandard conditions, "because it's the only thing they can find, and the only thing they can afford."

Hanser said, "Many of these offenders are limited in the types of employment that they can secure, and this can also impact their ability to afford living elsewhere."

Flowers said Hamby, however, has not been complying with the rules of the registry. He was arrested by the sheriff's office in February and bonded out of the Ouachita Correctional Center in March. The sheriff's office currently holds warrants for failure to register in Hamby's name.

"He's one of the ones that we try to keep an eye on him," Flowers said.

Her reports indicate he may be living in Bossier City or Natchez. But the registry maintains his address on Drago Street in West Monroe, because it was the last address he gave when he updated his registration in September 2013. Hamby has never owned the property.

Regardless of the ages of their victims, each registered offender was required to notify their neighbors of their convictions before moving into the neighborhood, another possible reason why they cluster in areas where landlords expect less rent from tenants.

The owner or landlord of the property where the registered offender resides must also be made aware of the offender's status, and property owners who accept registered sex offenders as tenants in one location will be more likely to rent to multiple offenders.

For example, six of the nine offenders in the 1500 block of Bailey Street are registered to two properties owned by the same pair of people. Half of these tenants are Tier III offenders.

Robert Webber, superintendent of the Ouachita Parish School District, said his office works to stay aware of sex offenders registered near public schools, such as the five registered near West Monroe High School.

He said local law enforcement has always "done a good job of sending the information" to him and to the principals of the schools.

Though offenders are required to update their registrations within three business days of changing or vacating any residence, Webber said when noncompliant offenders move from one location to another, "sometimes it falls through the cracks," allowing addresses for offenders like Hamby to remain out of date.

Hanser said, "I do think that the check system is pretty stringent. ... In working with the offender population in this state during the past five years, I routinely hear sex offenders discuss how the registry is — at least to them — very strict. I do not think that these offenders are able to effectively circumvent this process very often, as there are a number of automated follow-up reports that prompt law enforcement and community supervision personnel regarding the status of sex offenders."

Legal reasoning

The constraints impressed on registered sex offenders can often make their reintegration into society impossible — the living restrictions and notification requirements limit opportunities for freed offenders to find housing, shepherding them toward the same streets and the same properties.

"This is not simply because it helps the offender," he said. "It allows them to more effectively pay their fines and such. And also, if they are busy and motivated in their work, they are usually less likely to recidivate."

In the revised statutes of Louisiana, the law states that convicted sex offenders pose a "high risk" of recidivism. According to the law, with public safety being "of paramount governmental interest," the registry is justified based on the potential for offenders to break the law again.

The statute states, "Persons found to have committed a sex offense or a crime against a victim who is a minor have a reduced expectation of privacy because of the public's interest in public safety and in the effective operation of government. Release of information about sex offenders... will further the governmental interests of public safety and public scrutiny of the criminal and mental health systems so long as the information released is rationally related to the furtherance of those goals."

Under Louisiana law, the "high risk" presented by offenders convicted of these specific sex offenses outweighs the offenders' right to privacy, and as a result, concerned residents can use the registry to make themselves aware of potential dangers in their neighborhoods.

However, according to Hanser, "Sex offenders do not have a higher-than-average rate of recidivism when compared to other offenders."

Nonetheless, he considers the registry justified.

"While the registry does not completely ensure that an offender will never recidivate, it does keep them from being able to do so without quickly ending up on a suspects list," Hanser said. "And, if the community is notified, this essentially helps to create a 'target-hardening' effect, making potential victims less accessible."

Follow Julie Landry on Twitter @JulieLandry504.

OFFENDERS REGISTERED IN OUACHITA AND SURROUNDING PARISHES:

The national average of registered sex offenders per 100,000 residents is 265.